Bombers need to find president

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Now that the GM and head coach have been hired, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will turn their attention to finding a new president.

Winnipeg Football Club vice-chairman Bill Watchorn said Wednesday that the board will soon decide between two options about how to structure its hierarchy.

The first scenario is to hire a president/CEO to oversee the entire operation and have someone else run the business side of the organization. This is how the franchise operated under former president/CEO Lyle Bauer.

The second option, the one the club seems to be leaning towards, is to hire someone to run the business side and, just like GM Joe Mack, report to the board chairman. Watchorn noted that most of the CFL's successful teams operate that way.

"We have to sort that out before we continue with the president's search," Watchorn said. "We're right in the throes of evaluating which way to go."

Watchorn said the goal is determine the club's organizational structure by the end of February.

MURPHY RETURNS: John Murphy, who was fired as Winnipeg's player personnel director last month, has reportedly rejoined the Calgary Stampeders.

According to Sportsnet, Murphy will be introduced Thursday as the newest member of the Stamps' personnel department but will not be taking over for Jim Barker.

Murphy spent the 2007 and '08 seasons with the Stamps before joining the Bombers last January. Murphy was let go one day after Mack was introduced as the new GM.

MAKE IT FIVE? The Bombers might be losing their fifth player to the NFL.

Backup defensive end Pat MacDonald told The Sun on Wednesday that he had a "good workout" with the Seattle Seahawks as a long snapper this week but had not yet signed a contract.The other Bombers who have ventured south this winter are defensive back Jonathan Hefney (Detroit), receivers Dudley Guice Jr. (Indianapolis) and Titus Ryan (Dallas), and linebacker Derrick Doggett (Pittsburgh).

MORE ALUMNI NEWS: Offensive lineman Kelly Bates, who fell out of favour in Winnipeg last July, has signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The 34-year-old from Humboldt, Sask., appeared in six games for the Bombers before being dispatched to the nine-game injured list for the rest of the season -- despite not being hurt. The Bombers acquired Bates from the B.C. Lions last May for two draft picks.

MAKING MOVES: The Toronto Argonauts traded Canadian receivers Andre Talbot and Brad Smith to the Edmonton Eskimos on Wednesday for import defensive tackle Eric Taylor and a conditional draft pick in 2011.

Talbot wasn't exactly sad to be leaving the Boatmen.

"I'm pretty happy about it, actually," Talbot told QMI Agency. "Sometimes change is necessary. The environment around this organization the past two years has been negative, to say the least.